WK0J

I talked with Jerry WK0J Jones today. I'm still bringing the TH-78A to work, and Jerry popped on to check to see if his radio (FT-23R) was working. He was sounding loud and clear, but then KC0KVX came on and let him know that he was only transmitting on simplex. Jerry couldn't find his manual, so I looked online and was able to find it in PDF. He should have that radio up and running good as new.

FT-73R Manual [PDF]

Monitoring

I've been bringing my TH-78A to work with me this week so I can listen to the 146.73 and 443.5 repeaters. I've been curious what the traffic is like on those repeaters weekdays during normal business hours.

For the most part it's been pretty quiet. I've heard a few calls from local members looking for someone, but I never heard any responses.

However, on the .73 today I overheard KD0AJB (QTH: Dodge Center) talking with KC0UOW (QTH: Owatonna) who was testing a new dipole antenna to see if which area repeaters he could hit. By the sounds of it he was successful in hitting most of them. They were going to try Rochester's repeaters next, but since I can't hear Rochester from here, I never found out how it went.

Road Trip Contacts

I decided to take my handy TH-78A along with me on a trip to the Twin Cities for my nephew's 6th birthday and see if I could make a few QSOs along the way.

On the way up I made two contacts. Gary KC0UOP in Owatonna and Larry N0ZXH in Faribault.

I didn't get anyone in the cities.

On the way back home I talked with Dave WB0VAK in Owatonna. I think he was control operator for the Owatonna repeaters, or at least they were located at his QTH, and I learned from him that the Owatonna UHF repeater was down for maintenance, but that it would return.

Finally, as I was pulling into Austin I chatted shortly with John KB0SPM.